Rolling Stone's now discredited "A Rape on Campus" article caused a significant amount of damage
In 2014, Rolling Stone
journalist Sabrina Erdely wrote an article entitled "A Rape
on Campus" regarding a University of Virginia student
identified as "Jackie" who had been gang raped at the school
by several male fraternity members of Phi Kappa Psi. People
were outraged over the rape.
Based on details in the story,
three members of Phi Kappa Psi were publicly outed as
rapists and made the subject of terrible harassment, threats
and insults. The fraternity was suspended by the university.
The faculty of the University of Virginia was also brought
under great public scrutiny and criticism.
It turns out "Jackie"
made up the whole thing about being raped. It never
happened. Rolling Stone believed her story and ended up
publishing a piece that was a lie. Journalists from
newspapers unraveled the story when they began reviewing her
claims. Journalists unmasked it as a lie, as it was filled
with many discrepancies. It was revealed "Jackie" made up
the story for sympathy from a fellow student she was in love
with, Ryan Duffin. Rolling Stone retracted the story.
However, significant damage had been done to the reputations
of faculty at the University of Virginia and the Phi Kappa
Psi fraternity.
Jackie Coakley made up rape story
A jury has come to a
verdict in the defamation civil case brought against Rolling
Stone and Sabrina Erdely by University of Virginia associate
dean Nicole Eramo, awarding her $3,000,000 in damages. Eramo
had been publicly slammed for not handling the rape claim
properly (which turned out to be a false rape claim). Eramo
and her reputation suffered as a result of the article in
Rolling Stone.
Erdely was blamed for
not doing enough research regarding the gang rape claims of
"Jackie." Rolling Stone writer Erdely failed to properly
interview people "Jackie" named in connection with the story
and friends she stated came to her aid. Her friends later
revealed they did not see cuts and bruises on "Jackie" and
she did not appear distressed, which completely contradicts
the Rolling Stone article. Phi Kappa Psi has also filed suit
against Rolling stone and the case is currently pending.
People want to believe a
person who states they have been raped. No one wants to
believe a person stating they have been raped is lying.
However, it has occurred. Some have fabricated rape claims
and destroyed lives and reputations in the process. The
Judiciary Report would like to implore people not to make up
rape claims. When people actually get raped, the false
claims others made, makes it more difficult for them to be
believed by the public and juries. Rape is a very real and
serious crime. Do not make a mockery of it by lying.
STORY SOURCE
In Rolling Stone Defamation Case, Magazine and Reporter Ordered to Pay $3 Million
In Rolling Stone Defamation Case, Magazine and Reporter Ordered to Pay $3 Million
NOV. 7, 2016 - CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A
federal jury on Monday ordered Rolling Stone and one of its
writers to pay $3 million in damages to a University of
Virginia administrator over a discredited article two years
ago about a supposed gang rape at the university.
The jury in Charlottesville, Va., had
already decided on Friday, after a two-week trial, that
Rolling Stone; Wenner Media, its parent company; and Sabrina
Rubin Erdely, the author of the article, were all liable for
defamation in a case that centered on faulty reporting and a
failure to apply basic fail-safes in editing.
After deliberating for less than two hours
on Monday, the jury of eight women and two men decided that
Ms. Erdely was liable for $2 million of the total, and
Rolling Stone and Wenner Media for $1 million. In her suit,
filed in May 2015, the administrator, Nicole P. Eramo, had
asked for $7.5 million in damages...
